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NEW DELHI: Rapper Chris Brown shared his take on Ebola -- the virus that has killed about 3000 people Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. According to Brown, ebola is not a natural disease, but rather, a form of population control.
“I don't know ... But I think this Ebola epidemic is a form of population control,” Brown tweeted. “S**t is getting crazy bruh.” Brown followed up the Tweet that best represents our reaction to his ebola theory. “Let me shut my black ass up,” Brown said.
Ebola, is most certainly not a form of population control. It is a virus with a high fatality rate that was first discovered in 1976. Ebola hemorrhagic fever is the disease cause by one of five different Ebola viruses, with the fifth virus, Reston virus, causing illness in some animals but not humans.
The Ebola virus is extremely infectious but not, contrary to popular perception, extremely contagious. This means that even though an infinitely small amount of the virus can cause illness, it does not spread through air and only through contact with bodily fluids or contaminated objects from infected persons or animals.
The virus can incubate up to 21 days before symptoms appear, although the typical incubation period lasts eight to ten days. Symptoms include weakness, fever, aches, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, rashes, red eyes, chest pain, throat soreness, and difficulty breathing.
The current ebola outbreak is in West Africa, affecting Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. According to World Health Organisation Figures (as of October 5 2014), the following number of cases and deaths have been reported in the three countries.
Guinea - 1298 cases, 768 deaths
Liberia - 3924 cases, 2210 deaths
Sierra Leone - 2789 cases, 879 deaths
This current outbreak is the deadliest ebola outbreak in history.
The pictures below tell the story of ebola victims and survivors better than words can.
In the picture above, ebola to leave a Doctors Without Borders treatment center after recovering from the virus in Paynesville, Liberia (via CNN).
A woman, suspected of having contracted the ebola virus, waits to be taken to a health facility (via AP).
A healthcare worker sprays disinfectant in the area they found a man suspected of suffering from the Ebola virus in Kenema, Sierra Leone (via AP).
A woman crawls toward the body of her sister as a burial team takes her away for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia (via CNN).
A health worker in protective clothing holds a child suspected of having Ebola in the Paynesville treatment center (via CNN).
A girl cries as community activists approach her outside her Monrovia home on Thursday, October 2, a day after her mother was taken to an Ebola ward (via CNN).
A member of the CG Environmental HazMat team disinfects the entrance to the residence of a health worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who has contracted Ebola in Dallas, Texas, October 12, 2014 (via RT).
Marie Nyan, whose mother died of Ebola, carries her 2-year-old son, Nathaniel Edward, to an ambulance in the Liberian village of Freeman Reserve (via CNN).
A medical worker disinfecting his hand with chlorine at Doctors Without Borders treatment center in Kailahun, Sierra Leone (via NPR).
